Bleibtreustraße 45, 10623, Berlin, Germany
Open: Tue-Sat 11am-6pm
Fri 15 Sep 2023 to Sat 28 Oct 2023
Bleibtreustraße 45, 10623 Albert Oehlen, Richard Prince, Rudolf Stingel
Tue-Sat 11am-6pm
Artists: Albert Oehlen - Richard Prince - Rudolf Stingel
Galerie Max Hetzler presents an exhibition of work by Albert Oehlen, Richard Prince and Rudolf Stingel at Bleibtreustraße 45 in Berlin.
The dictionary definition of a remix in music is as follows: ‘A remix is a new version of a piece of music which has been created by putting together the individual instrumental and vocal parts in a different way.' (1) The works in this exhibition all refer recognisably and decidedly to art from the 20th century but differ widely in their intellectual attitudes, variety of techniques, and diverse perspectives which the artists take in riffing off their inspirations.
Albert Oehlen’s admiration for the Kyiv-born American artist John Graham reaches back to the 1990s. Executed nearly four decades later, in 2019, the two large-scale works on view in this exhibition are rendered in charcoal on canvas in different tonalities of grey. Presenting a cartoon-like figure juxtaposed against a vast white ground, the compositions interpret and transform Graham’s painting Tramonto Spaventoso (Terrifying Sunset), 1940–1949.
Throughout his career, Richard Prince has included elements of American popular culture, as well as the icons of modern art history. The artist has described his method as ‘sampling'. Prince makes speculations by setting up complex relationships and creating short-circuits between both image and word. In the two paintings presented in this exhibition, Prince draws on art history by engaging with the work of Pablo Picasso.
Rudolf Stingel takes inspiration from his countryman Ludwig Bemelmans – who, like him, was born in Merano, South Tyrol – and the famous murals which he created for the Carlyle Hotel in New York in 1947. Diverging from their original palette, Stingel’s largely black and white paintings offer photorealistic depictions of individual scenes drawn from Bemelmans’ nostalgic, warmly lit images.
Albert Oehlen (*1954, Krefeld), lives and works in Switzerland. He has been exhibiting regularly at Galerie Max Hetzler since 1981. Oehlen’s work has been the subject of numerous exhibitions in international institutions, including the Sprengel Museum Hannover (duo show with Carroll Dunham); Serpentine Gallery, London (both 2019–2020); Aïshti Foundation, Beirut (2018–2019); Palazzo Grassi, Venice (2018–2019); Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana (2017); The Cleveland Museum of Art and Guggenheim, Bilbao (2016); New Museum, New York (2015); Kunsthalle Zürich (2015).
Richard Prince (*1949, Panama Canal Zone) lives and works in Upstate New York. Prince’s work has been the subject of solo exhibitions in international institutions including the Louisiana Museum of Art, Humblebaek (2022); Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (2019); Espace cultural Louis Vuitton, Beijing; Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo (all 2018); Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2017); The artist participated in the Biennale di Venezia in 2003 and 2007, as well as The Whitney Biennial in 1985, 1987, 1997 and 2004.
Rudolf Stingel (*1956, Merano) lives and works in New York. The artist’s work has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions in international institutions, including Fondation Beyeler, Basel (2019); Palazzo Grassi, Venice (2013); Secession, Vienna (2012); Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin (2010); Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (both 2007); among others.
(1) Collins Dictionary